FAQ's about SANE hp-backend

Index:

  1. My Linux kernel does not recognize my SCSI scanner
  2. My Linux kernel recognizes my SCSI scanner but SANE does not
  3. How do I configure the ISA-card that came with the scanner
  4. My SCSI scanner is hanging up the system
  5. "xscanimage hp" works. But "xscanimage" does not show the HP-scanner
  6. I have a HP ScanJet Plus with interface card. But it does not work.
  7. I want to buy a PhotoSmart S20. Is it supported ?
  8. I have a HP ScanJet 7xxx C. Is it supported ?
  9. I have a scanner HP xyz. Is it supported ?
  10. I have a parallel port HP scanner. Why is it not supported ?
  11. I have HP ScanJet 5100C/5200C. How do I get it working ?
  12. My HP ScanJet 5100 C scans with colored lines.
  13. My scanner works for SCSI. But on the USB it is not found.
  14. My scanner works with USB on Windows. But not with Linux.
  15. My scanner worked with Linux 2.2.x. Now with 2.4.x it does not work.
  16. I get an "Error during device I/O".
  17. After updating to Linux kernel 2.6.x, I can't scan any more with USB
  18. Do you have a driver for scanner HP xyz for Windows ?

Additional information can be found in the SANE mailing lists.

  1. My Linux kernel does not recognize my SCSI scanner

    2. In fact this is not a SANE or hp-backend problem. Maybe the right SCSI- driver is not included in your system. Usually when the Linux kernel boots or the driver module is loaded, it prints a message like

    kernel: scsi : 1 host.
kernel:   Vendor: HP     Model: C5100A   Rev: R029
kernel:   Type:   Processor              ANSI SCSI revision: 02

    If you don't get a message like that you should check the SCSI howto's for your SCSI card. If you are using a SCSI card that came with the scanner, see here for hints configuring the cards.

  2. My Linux kernel recognizes my SCSI scanner but SANE does not

    3. Usually the hp-backend is configured to find the SCSI scanner automatically or at least at /dev/scanner. This requires that /dev/scanner is a link to the device where the scanner is really located. Run the tool sane-find-scanner from SANEs tools-directory (in old versions of SANE it is called find-scanner). This will print a list of device names where the scanner is found. If for example /dev/sg0 is in that list, become root, create a link and set permissions with the commands

    ln -s /dev/sg0 /dev/scanner
chmod 666 /dev/sg0

    You also can try to force scanimage to use the correct device:

    scanimage -d hp:/dev/sg0 > scan.ppm

  3. How do I configure the ISA-card that came with the scanner

    4. Usually two cards are delivered with HP scanners:
    Symbios Logic 53C400 A: Support for this card is included in the g_NCR5380 driver. See /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/README.g_NCR5380 for details.
    Symbios Logic 53C416: A driver for this card should be included in recent 2.2.x kernels. For an example how to configure the card see here.

  4. My SCSI scanner is hanging up the system

    5. Basic SCSI tests are:

  5. "xscanimage hp" works. But "xscanimage" does not show the HP-scanner

    6. Have a look at the file /usr/local/etc/sane.d/dll.conf or /etc/sane.d/dll.conf. Verify that the hp-backend is in the list and not commented out.

  6. I have a HP ScanJet Plus with interface card. But it does not work.

    7. You need to install a driver to support the interface card. The last known official sites for the driver are unreachable (rvs.ctrl-c.liu.se) or out of date (sunsite.unc.edu).
    Here are the sources and READMEs of the driver for various Linux kernels:

    This driver gives you a new device /dev/hpscan. Then you need to add to the file /usr/local/etc/sane.d/hp.conf the two lines

      /dev/hpscan
    option connect-device
    You need at least SANE v1.01 to do that.

  7. I want to buy a PhotoSmart S20. Is it supported ?

    8. It is not supported by the hp-backend. It seems that it does not use SCL (HP's Scanner Control Language) which is required for use with the hp-backend.

  8. I have a HP ScanJet 7xxx C. Is it supported ?

    9. Yes. But not by the hp-backend. Use the avision-backend.

  9. I have a scanner HP xyz. Is it supported ?

    10. Here is a list of all the scanners that are supported by the hp-backend:

    ModelHP Model NumberInterface
    ScanJet Plus9195AHP Parallel Interface Card
    ScanJet IIc1750ASCSI
    ScanJet IIcx2500ASCSI
    ScanJet IIp1790ASCSI
    ScanJet 3C2520ASCSI
    ScanJet 3P2570ASCSI
    ScanJet 4C2520ASCSI
    ScanJet 4P1130ASCSI
    ScanJet 4100C6290AUSB
    ScanJet 5P5110ASCSI
    ScanJet 5100C5190Aparallel port
    ScanJet 5200C7190Aparallel port/USB
    ScanJet 6100C2520ASCSI
    ScanJet 6200C6270ASCSI/USB
    ScanJet 6250C6270ASCSI/USB
    ScanJet 6300C7670ASCSI/USB
    ScanJet 6350C7670ASCSI/USB
    ScanJet 6390C7670ASCSI/USB
    PhotoSmart PhotoScanner5100ASCSI

    For the HP parallel interface card (ScanJet Plus) and parallel port interface additional kernel drivers may be required.

    Note: Because Hewlett-Packard does no longer produce scanners which support SCL (beside MFP's), this list is complete. Other HP-scanners are not supported by the hp-backend. But you can find support for other HP-scanners on

    Here are some links to backends which support HP-scanners not supported by the hp-backend:

  10. I have a parallel port HP scanner. Why is it not supported ?

    11. For SCSI cards there are a lot of Linux drivers available. Therefor HPs SCSI scanners are well supported. There are very few drivers for parallel port access available which can handle the multiple devices sharing the port. The manufacturers of parallel port scanners make almost no documentation available about the protocol they use. Currently people are working for better support of the parallel port. Maybe this will allow better support for parallel port scanners too. You can watch the progress of that work on the Linux 2.2 kernel at http://cyberelk.net/tim/parport/parport.html. There is a ppSCSI-driver available (http://cyberelk.net/tim/parport/ppscsi.html) that must be used to run the HP ScanJet 5100C/5200C under SANE. A ppSCSI-patch for kernel 2.4 can be found at Debian.
    For support of combined scanner/printer devices, see David Paschal's support for Multi-Function Peripherals .

  11. I have a HP ScanJet 5100C/5200C. How do I get it working ?

    12. You may need to install additional kernel drivers to get them running. So you should know how to patch a kernel and rebuild it. Please have a look at http://cyberelk.net/tim/parport/parport.html. There is a ppSCSI-driver suite available (http://cyberelk.net/tim/parport/ppscsi.html and RedHat). You need these drivers along with the epst-module of that suite. A ppSCSI-patch for kernel 2.4 can be found at Debian.

  12. My HP ScanJet 5100 C scans with colored lines.

    13. Try to set the parallel port to EPP mode (BIOS setting). And if you have a single processor machine, check that you are not using a SMP kernel (thanks to Yoan de Macedo, yoan.demacedo at wanadoo.fr).

  13. My scanner works for SCSI. But on the USB it is not found.

    14. Some scanners support SCSI and USB. But they can not be used simultaneously. If the scanner is connected to a machine through SCSI, USB might not work. Even if the machine with the SCSI adapter is turned off. Try to unconnect the scanner from SCSI.

  14. My scanner works with USB on Windows. But not with Linux.

    15. You need at least Linux kernel V 2.2.19. If you want to upgrade manually, see below for hints.
    If you have a kernel 2.2.19 or later, first be sure that the scanner is found by the system. You can run the X11-program usbview to see if it is found. Or do the following steps as user root:
    To get a listing of the devices found on the USB do 
    cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
    This gives you listings similar to the following:

    T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=03f0 ProdID=0601 Rev= 1.00
S:  Product=HP ScanJet 6300C
S:  SerialNumber=SG98P161P3PE
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=60 MxPwr=  0mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbscanner
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  64 Ivl=  0ms
E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  16 Ivl=  0ms
E:  Ad=83(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=   1 Ivl=250ms
    The entry "Product=" should show your type of scanner. If you don't find an entry for your scanner, it is not recognized. Check if your kernel supports USB and if you have installed the necessary packages.
    Now when your scanner is recognized, do a 
    cat /proc/bus/usb/drivers
    This should give you something like 
             usbdevfs
         hub
         hid
 48- 63: usbscanner
    This indicates that the usbscanner driver is available. Now have a look at the permissions of the device /dev/usbscanner by 
    ls -l /dev/usbscanner
    If it shows 
    crw-r--r--  1 root  root  180,  48 Jan 19  2001 /dev/usbscanner
    it is not ok. Only root can read and write to the scanner. To allow everyone to use it, do 
    chmod 666 /dev/usbscanner
    Now look where the configuration file hp.conf of SANE is located. It should be at /etc/sane.d/hp.conf or /usr/local/etc/sane.d/hp.conf. To that file you need to add the two lines 
    /dev/usbscanner
  option connect-device
    The file then should look like 
    scsi HP
/dev/scanner
/dev/usbscanner
  option connect-device
    You might need to use /dev/usb/scanner0 instead of /dev/usbscanner.
    Now you should be able to use the scanner with SANE.

    If you need to upgrade to kernel 2.2.19 manually, you also need the USB scanner module scanner.o. As root, load it and make a device /dev/usbscanner by 

    mknod usbscanner c 180 48
    Then you can continue with the description above. (Thank's to Wolfgang Rapp for hints about USB).

  15. My scanner worked with Linux 2.2.x. Now with 2.4.x it does not work.

    16. This problem occurs with Buslogic SCSI cards due to a change in the kernel driver. For a workaround add the entry option dumb-read to the file hp.conf.

  16. I get an "Error during device I/O".

    17. This problem occurs with Buslogic SCSI cards due to a change in the kernel driver or with some SCSI to USB convertors. For a workaround try 
    option dumb-read
    in hp.conf.

  17. After updating to Linux kernel 2.6.x, I can't scan any more with USB

    18. With Linux kernel 2.6.x it seems that something regarding USB has changed. The hp-backend included in sane-backends V 1.14 tries to work around that. Try to update SANE.

  18. Do you have a driver for scanner HP xyz for Windows ?

    19. No. I don't have Windows drivers. But you can download them from Hewlett Packard. Go to section "Software & Driver Downloads" and enter your product name like "scanjet 6200". If you don't have the HP ScanJet model name, only the HP-internal model number, the following table may help you to identify your product.
    Note: The table only contains HP scanners using SCL. For other models I don't have this information.

    HP model numberHP product name
    HP 9190AScanJet
    HP 9195AScanJet +
    HP 1750AScanJet IIc
    HP 1790AScanJet IIp
    HP 2500AScanJet IIcx
    HP 2570AScanJet 3p
    HP 2520AScanJet 3c
    HP 2520AScanJet 4c
    HP 1130AScanJet 4p
    HP 5110AScanJet 5p
    HP 6290AScanJet 4100C
    HP 5190AScanJet 5100C
    HP 7190AScanJet 5200C
    HP 2520AScanJet 6100C
    HP 6270AScanJet 6200C
    HP 7670AScanJet 6300C

Last revised: 29th Oct. 2006
This page has been viewed times since 08th. Dec. 2001.

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